Posted on 01/17/2015 6:24:17 AM PST by grundle
Four in 10 U.S. college students graduate without the complex reasoning skills to manage white-collar work, according to the results of a test of nearly 32,000 students.
The test, which was administered at 169 colleges and universities in 2013 and 2014 and released Thursday, reveals broad variation in the intellectual development of the nation’s students depending on the type and even location of the school they attend.
... many still graduate without the ability to read a scatterplot, construct a cohesive argument or identify a logical fallacy.
The exam, known as the Collegiate Learning Assessment Plus, measures the intellectual gains made between freshman and senior year. The test doesn’t cover subject-area knowledge; rather it assesses things like critical thinking, analytical reasoning, document literacy, writing and communication—essentially mimicking the baseline demands for professionals.
“These are the skills that are important no matter what you are doing; if you’re serving on a jury or looking for a good candidate to vote for, these are highly transferrable skills,” Ms. James said.
The test comes at a time of rising tuition and student debt and a broad rethinking of the value of a college degree in a changing job market. Last month, President Barack Obama spelled out plans for a college-rating system that aims to assess how well schools prepare students for the work world, among other criteria.
The 40% of students tested who didn’t meet a standard deemed “proficient” were unable to distinguish the quality of evidence in building an argument or express the appropriate level of conviction in their conclusion.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Beach visitors cause global warming is what that proves.
Human beings are bags of emotions walking around. You can be the best employee in the world, but if you look like the guy the boss caught screwing his wife, you’re going to get fired (the boss doesn’t want to be constantly reminded about his wife cheating).
LOL
gee, ya mean all that liberal education doesn’t prepare them to hold any position outside of the welfare line?
i’m shocked
Hence, the widespread following of he Global Warming fallacy.
Some of the wisest younger people I know started out that way. Got a job skill, got a job, then started taking college courses. If anything, encouraging everyone to go to college immediately after HS is for many sabotaging their developing a skill and getting a job.
Can you imagine what challenged neighborhoods will be like if everyone just hangs out for two more years, at the government's expense?
However, that same 40% does have the skills necessary to become successful basement dwellers and Guy Fawkes mask wearing protesters.
A two dimenisonal scatter chart illustrates the relationship (or lack thereof) of two variables, the x-axis representing the “independent” variable and the y-axis the “dependent” variable.
At least they’re getting better the longer they’re in school.
In many schools indoctrination and inculcation in liberalism is the real goal rather than Socratic teaching and the development of critical thinking skills. Legions of leftist professors make a very good living molding minds and attitudes to conform to liberal orthodoxy. Its a scam of the first order.
You nailed it. That’s the bottom line.
Logic is no longer a required college course, nor is rhetoric or debate. These are the courses you would find logical fallacies and argument skills. Real science courses would be good for scatter graphs.
But let me tell you that most schools don’t teach this. And for someone who took these courses, its very hard to read any newspaper, even the New York Times. It’s not that the Times is wrong (I think it generally is). It’s that they don’t know how to write a logical argument.
And the more worrisome part of this situation is that readers don’t know the difference, because they do not know what a logical fallacy is. They don’t mind the Times use of specifics that are assumed to be general with words like “many” instead of “most”. The Times can sell papers and get readers. But they are not saying anything worth reading.
The Wall Street Journal from the 1990’s was the last general newspaper that required logical arguments. I don’t know of one newspaper today that requires a logical argument. The Journal, since News Corp bought it and changed the editorial staff, does not write logical arguments like they used to.
Do not think that this is a left or right thing. Both sides argue horribly. Reading a newspaper is like reading sports columns now. Logic and truth is less important than pursuasive fallacies.
You can Google a list of the classic logical fallacies. The list seems to have grown a bit in the past 30 years. I like the older lists. New entries are normally repeats of other entries. Logical fallacies are arguments that sound persuasive but are logically inert. If you take one course in logic it desensitizes you to false arguments.
It’s possible that the lack of logic in writing has a purpose. In business today, and this includes the media, there are few rewards for fact finding. But the requirement for reams of verbiage that sounds professional has never been greater. If students are taught to write logically, and told the difference between an argument that says nothing (Bullshit) and an argument that actually describes a few facts and makes a logical inference, they will be hindered by a standard of quality that nobody can see anymore. So the smarter graduate would be held back by his higher quality. Although society needs quality and truth, its not asking for it.
That’s a scatterplop, not a scatterplot.
Studying psychology itself screws your mind up.
To be useful, this study needs to identify the target for improvement.
************
The researchers who produce these studies are probably discouraged from doing that through “understandings” with the schools who may not want to see such data made public.
Such tools as the scatterplot may reveal “inconvenient” relationships, correlations, or lack of same. Given their potential to discredit certain orthodoxies and group think, its understandable how their use could be discouraged. ;)
Probably in excess of 39% of college students (even excluding “scholar athletes”) should never be in a university in the first place. Licensed plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc. are more important in the cogs of society and will make more money than a lot of these kids with fluff degrees and plus $100 k student loans hanging over their heads.
One word: Diversity.
That 39% probably doesn't have the intellect or discipline necessary to be a tradesman.
Faculty are evaluated by the pupils; low grades to pupils means low evaluation to faculty. Do the math. The American people will never figure it out though.
bump
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